ANGEL'S MORTALITY

iii

CORUSCANT
RENOVATION SITE 4733

The crew eventually opened the ship. The Senator was held hostage by Bode, who demanded that he give them the code to the intel.

"They'll execute me!"

Cal sighed.

"Maybe I can change his mind."

The ginger walked in front of the other man and made a small waving gesture in front of him.

"You will give me access to your terminal," he said calmly and soothingly.

"I-I can't."

"You can trust us," Cal encouraged, "we're all friends here. Unlock it."

Like a puppet, the Senator's head nodded, and he said, "We're all friends here; I can trust you. I will unlock the terminal."

The Senator walked over and began typing into the computer before retracting his hands and standing up straight like a simple-minded droid would.

"If he moves, blast him," Cal ordered.

"Oh, it'll be my pleasure," Bode said, moving the Senator away from the table.

"Alright, BD, let's see what we got."

The little droid hopped off of his back and waited in anticipation. Cal turned the circular pad, and a map popped up in front of him, red dots were scattered about.

"They're everywhere," he said. "Years of fighting. But nothing we've done has slowed them down."

"What did you expect?"

Cal turned around to see Bode standing beside him and not the Senator, who had woken up from his mind control.

"You lost! The Republic is dead."

"It was killed by politicians just like you."

"Do you think I wanted Utaptu to join the Empire? The compromises I made created a future for my people."

"I've been to Utaptu, Senator," Bode said, putting distance between him and Cal. "They spit your name out like a curse."

"At least they are alive! Why fight when you can't win?"

Cal looked away as he approached him.

"Surrender tastes bitter at first, Cal."

Bode put his hand up and pushed the man back away from him.

"But sweetens with time."

Cal looked at the map again and leaned in to get a closer look at something.

"Free me, and we'll cut a deal."

Cal backed away from the desk.

"No, Senator," he replied, unhooking his lightsaber. He held it up in front of them.

"Someday, when your children see this, they'll know the Jedi never stopped fighting for them."

"...How disappointingly naive."

"Hey!" Gabs said, walking up to the entrance of the office they were in. "The twins are getting that ravenous look. Let's wrap up before we have another Cardia incident on our hands, yeah?"

"And what about him?" Bode asked.

"He's coming with us," Cal replied, putting his lightsaber back in place.

"Okay, let's take their food to go."

BD hopped onto his back, and the trio walked out of the room with their prisoner.